Redemption is a church in Kirkwood, MO (a suburb of St. Louis) working to recapture the joy and wonder of Christianity. Our hope is that this podcast helps to do that for you. Whatever your thoughts on church, whatever your beliefs about God, you are welcome here at Redemption. To get more information about Redemption, follow us on our socials or visit our website. @redemptionstl redemptionstl.com
Daniel and his friends had already stood firm three times — over food, over prayer, over a fiery furnace. But this week, backbone means something different: telling the truth to the one person who could end his life with a single word.In this message from Daniel 4, we watch Daniel deliver hard news to King Nebuchadnezzar — and we ask a harder question of ourselves: who's the person in YOUR life you've been avoiding an honest conversation with? Your kid? Your boss? Your parent? Your spouse?We talk about the difference between cowardice disguised as wisdom, love that avoids conflict, and the kind of truth-telling that's actually generous — a "velvet hammer" that's soft in delivery but unmistakably firm in content.Because the truth that costs you something now might be the very thing that saves someone you love later.
A 90-foot gold statue. A command to bow. And three men who won't.Weeks one and two of Backbone: A Study in Daniel both ended well — nobody lost their life, everybody went home safe. This week, that pattern breaks. King Nebuchadnezzar orders his entire empire to bow to a golden statue of himself or be thrown into a blazing furnace. And this time, there's no guarantee it ends okay.Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse — not because they know how it'll end, but because they've decided who they answer to. Their answer to the king contains five words that may be the theological center of the whole book of Daniel: "but even if He doesn't."In this message, Pastor Cory unpacks:✅ Why real backbone is tested by uncertainty, not by guaranteed outcomes✅ How to hold conviction without losing Christlikeness✅ Why the miracle in the furnace isn't rescue — it's presence✅ What your kids actually inherit from you (hint: it's not your convictions)Backbone doesn't need a guaranteed rescue.
A king loses his mind. An empire starts executing its smartest people. And Daniel — who had nothing to do with any of it — has a death squad walking toward his door. This week in our series Backbone: A Study in Daniel, we watch the same quiet resolve that said no to a plate of royal food in chapter 1 get tested under something far heavier: a national panic with zero margin for error. Nebuchadnezzar demands his advisors tell him a dream he refuses to describe — and when they can't, he orders every wise man in Babylon put to death. Daniel included.But instead of panicking, Daniel does something nobody in his position would dare do. He asks for time. Then he goes home, gathers his friends, and prays.In this message, Pastor Cory unpacks:✅ Why our culture treats calm like apathy and panic like proof you care✅ Why "let me pray about it first" is one of the most backboned sentences available to you✅ What it means that backbone is downstream of dependence, not self-confidence✅ How to lead — as a parent, manager, or friend — without faking an answer you don't have yetPrayer isn't our last resort, it's our first response.
A wishbone hopes something will change. A backbone decides something will not change you.We're kicking off a brand new 6-week series through the book of Daniel called Backbone. This week we meet a teenager dragged into exile with no power, no home, and no say in his future — and we watch him make one quiet decision that changes everything.Daniel 1 isn't a story about lions or fire. It's a story about royal food — a compromise so normal, so tasty, so socially acceptable that refusing it would've made Daniel "the difficult one." And that's exactly why it's dangerous.In this message, Pastor Cory unpacks:✅ Why God handing Judah over to Babylon was discipline, not defeat✅ What it means that even Nebuchadnezzar was called "my servant" of God✅ Why Daniel and his friends were renamed — and why it mattered✅ How backbone is built in a hundred small, unseen choices long before the "lions' den" ever shows upNever let a wishbone grow where a backbone should.
Most of us aren't failing to love people because we don't know what love looks like — we're failing because we're trying to squeeze love from a sponge that was never submerged. In week 3 of Summer Lovin', Pastor Cory takes us into 1 Corinthians 13 — a chapter hijacked by wedding ceremonies but actually written to a church family falling apart — to show why love was never meant to be something you produce by technique. It's meant to be an overflow of a love you've already received.Whether you're married, single, divorced, or widowed, this one's for you.
She had five husbands and wasn't even married to the man she was living with. She came to the well at noon — alone, in the heat — scheduling her entire day around avoiding people who knew her story. Then God sat down and asked her for a drink.This week in our Summer Lovin' series, we're in John 4 exploring what happens when the ache for love in your heart gets carried to the wrong wells — a relationship, an app, a bottle, an inbox — again and again, expecting a different result. Whether you're single, married, divorced, widowed, or somewhere in between, this is a message about what it actually looks like to stop hauling water from wells that were never going to fill you.Come as you are. He already knows about “ the five husbands”, and He sat down anyway.
We are all asking the same question, whether we say it out loud or not: Am I loved?In this first week of our new series, Summer Lovin', we go all the way back to Genesis 2 — before sin, before the fall, in a perfect and unbroken paradise — to find the very first time God says "not good" in the entire Bible. It's not about sin. It's about being alone.Whether you're single, married, dating, divorced, widowed, or in something you would declare on Facebook as… complicated, this message will show you that your ache to be known and loved isn't a flaw to manage or a sign you're spiritually behind — it's a fingerprint from your Maker. And one day, that ache will be fully and finally satisfied.
Every year, the same question gets asked again — and again, and again. Not once and done. Renewed.In the final chapter of Joshua, God's people stand at Shechem with everything laid out before them: eight weeks of promises kept, water parted, walls fallen, land given as pure gift. And now Joshua asks the only question that matters — will you actually follow this God?This week we close out our Uncharted series with Joshua's famous challenge: "Choose this day whom you will serve." We talk about the difference between cheap commitment and costly grace, the gods hiding in plain sight in our everyday lives, and why a decision this big can never be made for you by a crowd — it has to become yours.
Caleb waited 45 years for a promise. When he finally got the chance to collect it, he didn't ask for the easy plot — he asked for the hardest territory in the land.In Week 7 of Uncharted, we put God's track record on trial. We look at Joshua 14 and 21 and ask: has the wait made you bitter, or has it made you better, bolder? Because the same God who kept every promise to Israel hasn't forgotten the one He made you either.
Five enemy kings join forces. Israel is exhausted, outnumbered, and already fighting a battle they never should have signed up for. And in the middle of it, Joshua prays one of the boldest prayers in all of Scripture — he asks God to stop the sun.In this message from our Uncharted series in the book of Joshua, we dig into Joshua 10 and ask a question every one of us needs to answer: what audacious, impossible-without-God prayer have you stopped praying? We'll look at why bold prayers can only be prayed with humility, why God invites us into partnership rather than doing everything for us, and why the prayers we fail to pray in the ordinary moments often create the crises that require the extraordinary ones.Whether you're walking through something that feels beyond fixing or you've just gotten comfortable praying safe, predictable prayers, this message will challenge you to bring your biggest asks to the God who is able to do "infinitely more than we might ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
Jericho fell without Israel ever lifting a weapon. So why does tiny, insignificant Ai suddenly defeat them? In week 5 of our Uncharted series through the book of Joshua, Cory unpacks one of the most sobering chapters in the whole book — the story of Achan, hidden sin, and a nation that has to learn the hard way that God will not bless compromise.One man's secret sin in a tent. Thirty-six lives lost. And a truth that cuts against everything our culture tells us: private sin has public consequences.This message walks through the pattern sin always follows — see, want, take, hide — and asks a question worth sitting with: is there anything hidden in your life right now that's quietly costing you God's best? But this isn't a message meant to shame you. It's a message about what happens the moment hidden things come into the light: confession isn't the end of the story, it's the doorway back into the blessing that was there all along.
Join in on Elder Craig Bodenschatz' sermon in week 3 of the Uncharted series. The walls of Jericho didn't fall because of Israel's strategy — they fell because God fought the battle. In this message from Joshua 6, Craig Bodenschatz unpacks what it looks like to trust and obey God even when His methods make no sense to us.Six days of silent marching. No battering rams. No siege machines. Just obedience. Craig walks through five ways we can depend on God to fight our battles for us — remembering His past faithfulness, resting in the truth that He's already secured the victory, recognizing it's His battle to fight, finding grace even in the walls we face, and trusting that His ways aren't our ways.Whether you're facing a financial wall, a broken relationship, a health struggle, or a battle no one else can see, this message is a reminder: the fight isn't yours. Be still. Trust. Obey. The victory has already been declared.
Is there something you know God is calling you to do — but you just haven't done it yet? A conversation you've been avoiding. A step you've been putting off. A river you can see but won't cross.In this message from our Uncharted: A Study in Joshua series, we look at two people in Joshua 2 and 3 who faced that exact moment — and what happened when they finally stepped in.Rahab had no safety net. The priests had no guarantee. But both of them stepped out in faith — and neither of them regretted it.The miracle doesn't come before the step. It comes after.Whatever your Jordan River is — this message is for you.
When is the last time you did something that genuinely scared you?In Week 1 of Uncharted, we begin our journey through the book of Joshua and discover a truth we desperately need in today's world: courage isn't the absence of fear—it's trusting God enough to take the next step anyway.As Joshua stands on the edge of the Promised Land following the death of Moses, God gives him a simple but powerful command: "Be strong and courageous." Why? Because the source of our courage isn't found in ourselves—it's found in the presence of God.If you're facing uncertainty, a difficult decision, a step of faith, or a season where the future feels unclear, this message is for you.You don't have to be fearless to be faithful. You just have to trust that the One who goes before you is bigger than what lies ahead.
Reinventing Jesus Wk. 3 | "Hollywood Star" Jesus
Reinventing Jesus Wk. 2 | "Table Flipper" Jesus
Reinventing Jesus Wk 1. | "Consultant" Jesus
God's Grace Wk. 3 | God ReWrites Your Story (Guest speaker: Josh Ragland)
God's Grace Wk. 2 | God Breaks Your Patterns
God's Grace Wk. 1 | God Takes Your Place
The Path of Our King Wk. 7 | Easter - The King's Resurrection
The Path of Our King Wk. 6 | The King Curses The Fig Tree
The Path of Our King Wk. 5 | The King Heals Bartimaeus
The Path of Our King Wk. 4 | The King's Path Is Ours
The Path of Our King Wk. 3 | The King Muzzles The Storm
Jesus calls the disciples to follow him... and guess what, they are ordinary people like you and me. And that matters more than you think.
John the Baptist preached the coming of Jesus, not as a campaign strategy but as a kingly declaration. He was letting the world know that the King has arrived.
The Lord is my Shepherd... we have all heard it, but what does it MEAN? And how does it help me not fear? Listen in this week to Casey Jordan talk all about it.
What do you do when you are between a rock and a hard place? Or a sea and an army? What did God command Israel to do when they were in this spot? The answer may be surprising...
In Wk. 1 we look at Israel. They are being sent into captivity and God's number one commandment to them is to not be afraid. What do you do when your fear is louder than your faith?
Worth It! | Building A Kingdom Portfolio
The Waiting Room | When Waiting Feels Like Woe
The Waiting Room | When Waiting Feels Like Wonder
The Waiting Room | When Waiting Feels Like Silence
Through The Bible in 7 Weeks Wk. 7 | Judgement and Restoration
Can you trust the Bible?
The most important story that you will ever tell.
Why is forgiveness so important?
Where does your opinion of Jesus come from?
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